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Not got that leveller, but the only time I've witnessed servo tremor with a pitch controller was on a unit that had insufficient damping on the output, and I found a digital servo tends to exaggerate that, as they have less deadband than many analogue models.

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Hi to the Boattrainman, i'm also Irish (galway) and i built the Robbe U47 back in 2004. i modified it's appearance quite a bit with some aftermarkets parts into a late war boat but without the snorkel. I think the conning tower came from a german company named dream arts which is long gone. i left it as a dynamic diver as it was my first and only rc boat, however i've taken it down from the attic this week and i've been looking into how would i turn into a static diver. I was thinking of a water pump and ballast bags. I see "mikes subworks" has some suitable ballast bags but he hasn't responded to my email as of yet. Anyway i'll post some Pics of my boat soon. your own project is very ambitious and inspiring. Keep up the good work.

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I've got quite a few of the rubber bladders here that I'd be happy to let go for $12 each. If you're interested, pop me an email to "sales(at)nautilusdrydocks.com" and we'll get you all hooked up! I also carry mini and micro air pumps that would be perfect to pair with them.

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Great to see I'm not totally alone, there's at last two of us among the 4.5 million!!!!

I built the Robbe U47 way back around the same time you did, I made it as U203, however I didn't have the skills at the time to sort some of the issues with the kit. At that time I used the Accuarte Armour 1/35 Conning Tower (a resin kit) which is very heavy, and I undersized the Piston Tank, so while it looked reasonably well it never sat on the waterline properly. I sold it to fund other hobbies, but I always wanted to go back and do it properly, hence this build.

This forum is terrific, there's great support from other builders, plus Bob is a great supplier and very helpful also. I used his fittings kit for the Skipjack (Revell) and they were of superb quality. One tip which you probably know is to set up an AddressPal accout for the USA with AnPost, it makes the postage costs much lighter, plus the stuff will arrive faster.

I've got a Steam Coaster from Mounrfleet Models (2.5 years to build, I went back to original drawings and photographs to get it right), the Skipjack mentioned above with a scratchbuilt WTC, and I'm also working on a steam launch with a Cheddar Models Steam Engine that I got as a present recently. Hoping to get the first coat of paint onto U557 over the Christmas if I can get a quiet few days.

Best of luck with modifying your sub.

Rob

''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

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Anyway, this is my boat. The red anti-fouling paint isn't scale for a late war boat, but i thought it gave it some character. Also the net cutter on the bow is from an early war boat is a total NO-NO and i don't know why i put it on but i obviously thought it was cool at the time. I was shocked how basic and rudimentary the original Robbe kit was and in particular how poor the instructions were. That said it was basically sound and admittingly coming from an RC plane background i have been spoilt with cheap and readily available ARTF's (almost ready to fly). Building RC submarines, at least with static dive systems, really seperate the men from the boys.

Per the authors research, no U-Boat ever had a boot strap or a red oxide lower hull, but you have that covered.

From my recollection, modifying the Tech Rack that came with the kit was a horrible job, that's why I didtched it for this build, plus by starting from scratch, I could squeeze in the biggest Piston Tank possible so it would sit on the waterline properly.

Happy building.

Rob

''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

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Great boat! So thereís two of you in Ireland now! Well,thereís two of us in Texas now too! Weíll have to form a Pan Irish - Tejano U Boot league ha ha. Yes start a thread! Maybe we can kick start Krick into re-introducing the kit under Romarine. Krick now owns all of the Robbe line and have been re-introducing it kit by kit. Just so you know Krick do have a lot of the spares, such as the WTC tubes and end caps, plus those wonderful Futaba F14 twin stick radios in 40 mghz.

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I've managed to get the sub surface trimmed and also submerged trimmed (I skewed the main ballast keel forward a little so that foam was only required in the aft section for submerged trim, so the Piston Tank filling from the rear is counterbalanced by the increased buoyancy of the foam sinking below the waterline in the rear)...........

......here it is just on the waterline and with the foam (high density, closed cell type) above the waterline.

But despite drilling plenty of vent holes, including a series along the keel........

.......and some extra 2.5mm holes along the top of the saddle tanks (didn't want to do this but having extended the saddle tanks inboard air was def getting trapped underneath)......

................I'm left with a problem.

The sub refuses to re-set on the waterline after submerging!!!!!

On initially putting on the water, the sub sits fine on the waterline, dives level to periscope depth and on return to the surface sits around 10mm below the waterline. After a couple of spins around the lake on the surface, it's back on it's waterline, but once static dived again it will not re-set to the waterline. Are my vent holes too small (keel 4mm, saddle tanks 2.5mm)? Are more needed in other locations? Is this a common problem with saddle tank models?